Christmas Eve
by readyandpsyched
Summary: Price and McKinley spend their first holiday together.


"Are you serious? …Really, that bad? …Yeah, yeah, you're right. …Mhm. …Well, I'll talk to him and I'll let you know. …Okay, bye." Connor McKinley set his phone on the counter and sighed. "Hey, I just got off the phone with Rachel!" he called to the back of the apartment.

"Hm?" Kevin Price emerged from the bedroom wearing a wool sweater over his pajamas, holding the patchwork quilt from their bed around himself like a cape. Connor gave him a look. "What? It's cold," Kevin protested. He sat down on the stool at the kitchen counter and wrapped the quilt tighter around himself, shivering. "So, what'd she say?"

"She said it's just as bad there, if not worse. Said their power's been on and off since yesterday and there have been all kinds of accidents because of the ice."

"Oh." Kevin frowned. "Well, still, that's just in the city, but the highways can't that bad. Those must be cleared off by now."

Connor shook his head. "News says snowdrifts have covered 70 from Columbus all the way to Wheeling—it's a total white-out."

"It's just snow," Kevin mumbled sadly, looking down at his hands.

"Kev, I—I don't think it's a good idea."

It was the morning of Christmas Eve and they had planned to drive to Pittsburg, to spend their first Christmas together (and their first Christmas as a married couple) with family: Connor's sister Rachel, her husband Rob, and their ten-month-old daughter Margie. But the storm that had hit a few days before snowed them in and Connor tended to agree with his sister—it was just too risky to make the drive in such bad weather. Connor was disappointed; the last time he had seen them was in February, shortly after Margie was born.

Kevin, though, was beyond disappointed. He was despondent. "But it's Christmas," he whined. "It's only three or four hours to drive there. It's not that bad." Kevin adored Christmas, loved the traditions and rituals and food and, most of all, family. And Connor's sister was nice enough to invite them for Christmas and he desperately needed to be around people, with a real family for the holidays.

"It'll be five or six because we'll have to go, like, 35 the whole way there," Connor corrected.

"That's okay."

"I don't even know if we'll be able to get the car out of the parking lot, much less onto the highway." He hunched over the table, tapping on his phone. "See, they're saying it's the 'worst blizzard since 1978', when the state pretty much shut down for most of a week."

"We'll be cautious. It's not like we haven't traveled in a snowstorm before," Kevin said, a bit too stubbornly.

"Kevin, the airport is closed, even," Connor said, focused down on the phone. "I just don't think it's a good idea."

Kevin sighed and thought for a moment. "We could take the train."

"We'd still have to drive up to Columbus," Connor said definitively. He looked up and his face fell to see Kevin utterly crestfallen, staring down at his hands. He walked around the counter and stood behind him, putting his arms around Kevin, resting his head on Kevin's shoulder. "I know it's unfortunate," Connor said sadly, "but there's nothing else we can do." He kissed Kevin's cheek, and Kevin pulled him closer, wrapping the blanket around both of their arms.

"It'll be fine," Connor assured Kevin. "We'll be here together, at least. I'll make cookies." Kevin nodded softly. "Come on, why don't you bring the space heater out from the bedroom and set it up out here. I'll call Rachel back and let her know."

While Connor was on the phone, Kevin trudged out of the bedroom hefting the bulky heater, quilt still draped over his shoulders, and plugged it in behind the television. It hummed and buzzed when it clicked it on, and he banged on the top of the box a couple of times to stop it from rattling. He positioned it toward the tan and brown couch in the corner of the tiny living room, and took a seat at one end, gathering himself up in the quilt once again. The apartment was drafty, and the balcony door near the couch let in the biting winter chill.

Connor flopped down next to Kevin and tucked his feet under his husband for warmth. "You know," he said, grabbing a pillow from the end of the couch and clutching it to his chest, "we haven't actually had a Christmas together before."

"Yes we have!" Kevin insisted.

"What? When? The last two years we were with our families and before that you were still on mission."

"We had Christmas together my first year in Uganda."

"Well…yeah…" Connor admitted reluctantly. "But that wasn't just us, that was everyone. And we weren't really _together_ then."

"It still counts," Kevin said obstinately. "Do you remember—" he laughed, "Do you remember when Arnold was showing the kids how to make those folded paper throwing stars to use as ornaments to put on the tree in the meeting house, but they just ended up chucking them at each other? It was an all-out paper war."

Connor chuckled. "Yeah! They got good at making those—those things were sharp!"

"Yeah…" Kevin leaned his elbow on the back of the couch and rested his head on his hand. He turned to Connor. "I remember you and Elder Church made cookies on Christmas Eve." He cast his eyes down bashfully. "…You kissed me, in the kitchen, when everyone else was out in the front room."

A warm smile spread across Connor's face. "I remember. You tasted like frosting and peppermint."

Kevin smirked. "That's because I had been swiping frosting from your bowl all afternoon. And those candy canes that Elder Schrader's parents had sent."

"I knew someone was eating my icing!" Connor gasped, and batted Kevin with the pillow until Kevin wrenched it away from him and Connor dissolved into a fit of giggles.

"So…" Kevin began slyly, tossing the pillow aside, "what do I taste like on this Christmas Eve?"

"Ooh, saucy," Connor laughed, "Well, let's see…" He leaned forward and took Kevin's chin in his hand, kissing him lightly at first. He ran a tongue along Kevin's lower lip, then lapped into his mouth. Connor kissed him more deeply and smiled when Kevin wrapped his arms around him, pulling the heavy quilt around them both and hugging him tight. "Mm… there's… a hint of mouthwash… chocolate… maybe peanut butter?" He withdrew abruptly and sat back on his feet. "Did you get into that tin of buckeyes that my mother sent?"

Kevin grinned guiltily. "I may have, yes."

"Is that _all_ you ate this morning?" Connor asked disapprovingly.

"Maybe."

"Kevin!" Connor scolded. "You're like a ten-year-old."

"It's Christmas! You're allowed to only eat cookies and candy."

"Mmm, okay dear, whatever you say," Connor mumbled as he stretched out on the couch, resting his head in Kevin's lap, nuzzling his thigh. Kevin ran a hand through Connor's hair; Connor smiled and closed his eyes.

They were quiet for a while and Kevin watched the snow falling out on the balcony. "You know," he said after several minutes, "That day—that was the first time you really _kissed_ me. Like, for real."

"Was it?" Connor asked, turning to look up at Kevin. "Huh, yeah, I guess so." He smiled, reminiscing. "I had been wanting to do that all day. All week, all _month_ even. Right before that you and Elder Cunningham were in the front room wrapping up books to give out around town, and you just looked so stupid and happy, you two with those ridiculous bows on your heads. And then you came into the kitchen—just to steal frosting, I now know, four years too late—and I just had to."

"I went in there to see you."

"Oh yeah?" Connor asked, genuinely surprised.

"Mhm." Kevin nodded, then added cheekily, "The frosting was just a bonus." Connor pursed his lips and scowled, and Kevil lolled his head back, laughing. He looked down again at Connor, with a loving, reverent gaze. Connor returned the look. "Do you want to know what I remember most from that Christmas?" Kevin asked.

"What do you remember most from that Christmas?"

"I remember," he began, taking Connor's hand and tracing absently along his fingers, "later that night, when Arnold and Nabulungi were putting lights on that tree-that-wasn't-really-a-Christmas-tree and you were sitting underneath it untangling all those extension cords and it was so dark in there except for the yellow lights on the tree, and they gave you this kind of—this sort of…glow? Is that cheesy? And at one point you looked up at me and you just gave me this _look_…and that's when I knew."

"When you knew what?"

"When I knew…this," Kevin said, entwining his fingers with Connor's.

"Nu-uh," Connor said incredulously. "You couldn't possibly have known way back then."

"Could to."

"No way. You had only been at site for, what? Four or five months then?"

"I knew."

Connor shook his head. "I don't buy it. First it was 'when I was leaving', then it was 'at the mission conference', and now it's backing up even farther to 'on Christmas Eve'?"

"When you left was when I knew I didn't want to be apart from you, and mission conference just reaffirmed what I knew on that first Christmas." Connor still looked skeptical and Kevin couldn't help but chuckle. "Is this the first spat we're going to have as a married couple? Over how long I've loved you?"

Connor looked at his watch. "Whelp, four days, I think it's about time we had a first fight, yep." He smiled and held Kevin's hand possessively to his chest. "Well if this is our first fight, I'd say that we're in pretty good shape."

"You'd better believe it. And just for the record, I've probably loved you since the first day I met you, I just didn't know it yet."

"Ugh," groaned Connor, "_so cheesy_."

Kevin grinned. "So you're saying that is not a good story to tell to the kids?"

"Our kids?"

"Yeah, of course our kids," Kevin replied, as if it was nothing at all. Connor swallowed hard and smiled. It was these offhand throwaway comments that Kevin made about their future and his feelings that tugged hard on Connor's heartstrings every single time. Kevin was just _so certain_ about those things that it was no big deal to simply toss them out, like comments about the weather. Connor kissed the back of Kevin's hand and curled over on his side.

Kevin gazed out the window again, watching the boughs of the trees behind the apartment building sag lower and lower with the snow. "It's still snowing really hard outside," he observed.

"Ooh! Do you wanna go outside and build a snowman?" Connor asked, perking up. "No, wait, a snow fort! An igloo!"

Kevin smiled and patted Connor's hair. "Nah, I'm pretty comfortable right here."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"That's good…I'm kind of tired anyway."

"Con, it's not even ten in the morning! How are you tired?"

"I've been up since five, unlike you. And I've barely slept at all in the past week. Neither have you, for that matter."

Kevin shrugged. "True. Do you want to go back to bed?"

"No, we've already got the heater out here; it's going to be freezing in there. And going back to bed at ten in the morning is just one step past too lazy for me."

"It's not like we have anything we have to do today."

"Mmm, that's true," Connor hummed happily. "Let's just stay out here. Do you want to take the back cushion off and lay down?" Kevin nodded, and Connor sat up to help Kevin pull the back panel off of the slightly-convertible some-assembly-required couch they had bought off of Craigslist when they first moved in to the apartment. "No, you've got to…you've got to grab it from the sides and unlatch it," Connor instructed as they attempted to wrest the panel off. "No, the other way…no, like this—it always gets stuck and you just have to—there!" The back popped out and Kevin set it against the side wall.

"We never did put this thing together right," Kevin said with a wry smile.

"I think it was missing some parts when we bought it."

"Yeah, or you lost them."

"Hah, yeah, or I lost them." Kevin grabbed the pillow from the floor and lay down on his side, back against the wall, tucking a hand under his head. Connor lay on his back next to him, hands clasped across his chest, staring up at the ceiling, lost in thought. Kevin tossed the quilt overtop of them and settled down into the couch, watching Connor. "Now explain to me how this is less lazy than being in bed?"

"It just is," Connor said. He moaned comfortably and pulled the blanket tighter around them. After a long silence, he asked, "That first year on mission, that was your first Christmas away from home, wasn't it?"

"Yeah."

"Kev, are you—" Connor began a question, but stopped himself.

"What?"

Connor shook his head. "No, it's nothing."

"What is it?"

Connor turned on his side to face Kevin. "I was just going to ask if…you were going to call your parents tomorrow."

Kevin closed his eyes and shook his head. "No…they don't want to hear from me."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah… I sent them that letter, and I think that was pushing it."

"Okay." This was a subject Connor knew not to press any further. It had been almost a year since Kevin had last spoken with his parents, and he only spoke occasionally, briefly, superficially with any of his siblings. Kevin's family meant so much to him and Connor couldn't stand seeing him so broken because of the fallout, but Kevin never wanted to talk about it.

Connor took Kevin's free hand and played with the ring on his finger, watching the multicolored lights from the small plastic tree in the corner reflect off of the gold band. "When are you going to tell them about this?"

"I don't know," Kevin said. "…sometime."

"Okay." After a while, Connor said softly, "I bet Jack would be happy for you."

Kevin was quiet for a minute. "No, he still won't talk to me."

"I'm sorry."

"It's—it's okay."

"Kev, it's _not_ okay," Connor insisted. "_You're_ not okay." He pulled himself closer to Kevin and nestled against his chest, wrapping a protective arm around him. "I'm sorry," Connor said, his voice muffled by Kevin's sweater. "You don't deserve to feel like this."

Kevin tipped Connor's chin up to look at him, and attempted a weak smile. "No, really, it's okay. I mean, that is…what it is. And it's not going to change. But I'm happy—I am." He nodded his head insistently and his smile became more genuine. "I have you. And I love you. And you love me. And if they can't love me for who I am and who I love then that's their problem."

"Kev…" was all Connor could muster, his expression conveying they extent of his sadness and empathy.

"I'm just tired of blaming myself for it," Kevin said resolutely, voice tinged with anger and frustration. "I'm tired of it."

Connor brushed a comforting thumb across Kevin's cheek. Kevin closed his eyes and exhaled a long, deep sigh. "It'll be okay," Connor said. "You know that, right? It'll be okay." Kevin nodded meekly, eyes still shut tight. Connor leaned up and placed a tender kiss on Kevin's lips. "You've got me, forever and ever."

Kevin let out a small laugh, opened his eyes, and smiled. "Now who's the cheesy one?" Connor pursed his lips and furrowed his brow in mock offense, but Kevin gathered him up in a sudden kiss and Connor couldn't keep up the act for long. Kevin settled his head back on the pillow. "And…I mean…" he trailed off.

"What?"

"You can't call me cheesy for this," he warned.

"Can I call you corny? Melodramatic? Hopelessly unremittingly romantic?" Kevin shot him a glare and Connor giggled.

"I mean…you're my family. We're a family now."

"Aw…geez…Kevin…" Connor bit his lip and shook his head. "Kev, that's not cheesy, that's just the truth. Of course we're a family." He gave Kevin a warm smile and rolled over, letting Kevin wrap his arms around him underneath the blanket.

Kevin leaned down and kissed Connor's ear. "Are you going to take a nap?"

"Would you mind?"

"Of course not," Kevin answered, giving him a squeeze. "Do you mind if I turn the TV on?" he asked, groping for the remote on the side table.

"Not at all," Connor said, settling in to sleep. "Put on something Christmassy."

Kevin switched on the television and turned the volume down low, flipping through the channels. After a few minutes he whispered, "Hey, Con. Con, you still awake?"

"Hm?"

"When you wake up, can we make cookies?"

"Hrm? Yeah, sure," Connor murmured groggily. "What kind d'you wanna make?"

"Sugar cookies."

"Are you gonna eat all the frosting before we even get to the cookies?"

"Oh, most definitely."

Connor didn't respond for a moment and Kevin thought he might have fallen asleep. "Okay…that's fine," he said finally. "Wake me up in a few hours."

"Okay."


End file.
